    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book III)]
    [October 7, 2004]
    [Pages 2386-2387]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on the Report on Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction
    October 7, 2004

        Chief weapons inspector Charles Duelfer has now issued a comprehensive report that confirms the
    earlier conclusion of David Kay that Iraq did not
    have the weapons that our intelligence believed were there.
        The Duelfer report also raises
    important new information about Saddam Hussein's defiance of the world and his intent and capability to
    develop weapons. The Duelfer report showed that Saddam was
    systematically gaming the system, using the U.N. Oil for Food Programme
    to try to influence countries and companies in an effort to undermine
    sanctions. He was doing so with the intent of restarting his weapons
    program, once the world looked away.
        Based on all the information we have today, I believe we were right
    to take action, and America is safer today with Saddam Hussein in prison. He retained the knowledge, the materials,
    the means, and the intent to produce weapons of mass destruction, and he
    could have passed that knowledge on to our terrorist enemies. Saddam
    Hussein was a unique threat, a sworn enemy of our country, a state
    sponsor of terror, operating in the world's most volatile region. In a
    world after September the 11th, he was a threat we had to confront, and
    America and the world are safer for our actions.
        The Duelfer report makes clear that
    much of the accumulated body of 12 years of our intelligence and that of
    our allies was wrong, and we must find out why and correct the flaws.
    The Silberman-Robb Commission is now at work to do just that, and its
    work is important and essential. At a time of many threats in the world,
    the intelligence on which the President and Members of Congress base
    their decisions

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    must be better, and it will be. I look forward to the intelligence
    reform commission's recommendations, and we will act on them to improve
    our intelligence, especially our intelligence about weapons of mass
    destruction.
        Thank you all very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 1:24 p.m. on the South Grounds at the White
    House prior to his departure for Wausau, WI. In his remarks, he referred
    to Charles Duelfer, Special Advisor to the Director of Central
    Intelligence; David Kay, former CIA Special Advisor for Strategy
    Regarding Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction Programs; and former
    President Saddam Hussein of Iraq. He also referred to the Commission on
    the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of
    Mass Destruction, chaired by former Senator Chuck Robb and Judge
    Laurence Silberman. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a
    Spanish language transcript of these remarks. The report of September 30
    was entitled ``Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor to the DCI on
    Iraq's WMD.''